BENGALURU: Once hailed as an environment-friendly concept to reduce traffic congestion and fuel costs, carpooling is now going through a rough patch in Bengaluru due to the pandemic.
Those tracking the city’s mobility-related issues say firms like Quick Ride, sRide, rPool, RideAlly and BlaBlaCar are witnessing a sharp drop in users due to fears over contracting Covid-19 and work-from-home (WFH) arrangements. Meanwhile, app-based aggregators like Ola and Uber have also suspended their carpooling services — Uber Pool and Ola Share.
Carpooling was a popular option in localities known for traffic snarls and IT corridors such as Manyata, ORR, ITPB, Electronics City, EGL, Global Tech Village etc. However, traffic has reduced in these areas due to WFH.
While the transport department has not given licences to carpooling firms, it also did not take action against these firms since the service helped reduce vehicular emission and congestion. Many users opted for carpooling services since it was cheaper than even BMTC’s air-conditioned services. Also, routes are customised among users which reduces travel time and also saves users from finding parking space.
However, now, many users say they don’t want to share trips with strangers. Mahalakshmi S, who earlier used the service, said: “It was a good concept but now I work from home. However, we may have to go back to work-from-office in September. Carpooling will help blunt rising fuel prices, but I’m worried about sharing rides with strangers due to Covid.”
KNM Rao, founder & CEO, Quick Ride, said: “Carpooling has been heavily impacted due to the pandemic as more than 95% are working from home. We expect demand to pick up from September 2021 as companies are planning to reopen.”
Lakshna Jha, CEO of sRide, said while the service was badly impacted, the situation is now improving. “Because of vaccination drives and several other safety steps, sRide has seen a recovery rate of 20-35% after the second wave of Covid-19,” Jha said. “We are also getting new sign ups from both riders and drivers and have seen a spike of 20% since March in terms of new users.”
Urban mobility expert Pawan Mulukutla believes the situation is unlikely to improve for another “year or two”. He said: “The virus has got everyone thinking about other mobility options. Ride sharing is one of the causalities because of the change in travel patterns due to the virus scare and WFH.”
However, Jha is optimistic, saying the future of commuting will follow a hybrid model where people will choose to carpool to work thrice or four times a week. “We are also noticing that people are now looking to stay at places further away from work so instead of commuting for 15km they will likely commute longer distances as it is not required for them to travel every day. We believe the distance traveled by carpooling will increase going forward,” she said.
